NASCAR has taken plenty of steps in recent years to ensure that its season champion doesn’t skate through the whole year without winning at least a few races.

Too bad it’s not working, at least not this season.

Carl Edwards is the driver to beat with four races in the Chase. He has a 14-point lead over Roush-Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth heading into Sunday’s race at Martinsville.

And yet, the only win Edwards has this year was at Las Vegas, way back in March, just three races into the season.

Doesn’t this all sound familiar? Kenseth won the 2003 championship with only one victory, ironically at Las Vegas three races into that season, too.

Uh, oh.

NASCAR turned the sport upside down after 2003.

It implemented the 10-race Chase playoff format, which meant the points were reset after the 26th race and the top 10 drivers then fought it out the rest of the way to determine the series champion. NASCAR has been tinkering with the format since, including the fact that drivers are now seeded in the Chase by their number of wins.

Is another overhaul in store? Let’s hope not.

Edwards hardly has the title locked up, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he won another race or two. He won the final two races a year ago, taking checkered flags at Phoenix and Homestead.

But Edwards doesn’t have to go out and push himself over the next month to win the title. Edwards has taken control of the championship hunt with consistency. He hasn’t finished worse than 11th in any of the past nine races, and during that run, he has recorded six top-five finishes.

The most dangerous drivers, including five-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, along with Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, who have won four races apiece this year, haven’t been mathematically eliminated. However, they are going to need a lot of luck over the next month to overtake Edwards.

So, Edwards is free to keep doing what he has been doing. Keep those top-fives coming, and he will have his first championship.

There’s nothing wrong with that. These are the rules, and Edwards is playing by them. Give him credit. He has had a solid year.

But you aren’t going to convince me that it wouldn’t be more exciting if the eventual champion won five races and captured the title with the bonus point he got for leading the most laps at Homestead.

Look at what the emphasis on winning did in the weeks leading up to the Chase. One of the best moves NASCAR has made was awarding two Chase berths to the drivers with the most wins from positions 11th to 20th in the standings. That’s how Brad Keselowski got into the Chase. He had to race his way into the playoffs, and I have a hunch that if anyone is going to take down Edwards, it is going to be Keselowski. This wouldn’t be possible without the new rule.

But whether Edwards closes out the season with one win or five, let’s hope we don’t see NASCAR making any major changes like we did eight years ago.